Part 2
Symphony: ' Mathis der Maler'
This Symphony is an arrangement of three excerpts from Hindemith's opera, Mathis the Painter. The subject and principal character of the opera is the sixteenth-century German painter. Mathis (or Mathias) Griinewald, and the movements which make up the Symphony were inspired by three of his paintings, ' Angels' Concert,' ' The Entombment,' and ' The Temptation of St. Anthony.'
The first picture is of angels kneeling before an altar, playing on stringed instruments. In the introduction to the movement there is heard an old German cradle song, ' Three angels were singing sweetly. The second movement portrays the Entombment of Christ. The third movement. ' The Temptation of St. Anthony,' opens with St. Anthony's ;cry of agony. Later we seem to hear alternately the Saint's prayer and the assault of his adversaries. Gradually the power of evil subsides and the hymn, ' Lauda Sion Salvatorem,' is heard.—HAROLD RUTLAND